The Cricket Committee of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) two-day meeting in Mumbai concluded on Tuesday with strong support for the ICC Board’s commitment to improving the behavior of players and the development of a culture of respect. The Committee has also made recommendations around the toss in Test cricket and ICC World Test Championship playing conditions.

Ex-MCC President Mike Gating and former Australian batsman David Boon joined the meeting on Day one in order to discuss the discuss the importance of the Spirit of Cricket to the game generally and, more specifically, the Code of Conduct.

There were three main areas of discussion. Firstly, an apt method for the board members to create a better atmosphere of respect between teams and to provide for a fair contest on the field of play. Secondly, the exact definition of playing in the spirit of cricket and, finally, the specific offenses to be covered by the Code, the associated level of sanctions and the process for the consistent reporting, hearing, and adjudication of charges brought under the Code.

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The Cricket Committee has made numerous recommendations to be shared with the Chief Executives’ Committee in June as part of the collective desire to create a culture of respect and protect the spirit of the game.

These include adopting the following principles:

• Giving greater authority and support to match officials
• Greater leadership accountability for Boards and team support staff
• Clear expectations for the treatment of visiting teams particularly around practice facilities, warm-up matches, and logistical arrangements
• Greater education for all young players on the history and spirit of the game.

The Committee has also recommended the following in relation to specific Code of Conduct offenses:

• Raising the sanctions associated with ball tampering.
• Creating a new offense for offensive, personal, insulting, offensive or orchestrated abuse.
• The consideration of the introduction of a new offense of attempting to gain an unfair advantage.

According to the new discussions, the match referee will have the complete right to downgrade or upgrade a level of offense or sanction.

ICC Cricket Committee Chairman Anil Kumble said: “We had an excellent discussion around the issue of player behavior and I’d like to thank Mike Gatting and David Boon for joining us and making valuable contributions.”

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He further elaborated, “The Committee echoed the sentiments of the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee and the ICC Board, and, as such, we have made a series of recommendations as part of the creation of a culture of respect we can all adhere to. The group felt that excessive personal abuse and ball tampering were serious offenses in the game and that should be reflected in the way in which they are dealt with. There was also strong support for giving the match officials more authority and subsequently greater support around their decision making.”

According to the Cricket Committee, there should be a decision over playing conditions of the ICC World Test Championship. The Committee discussed whether the toss should be automatically awarded to the visiting team but felt that it was an integral part of Test cricket which forms part of the anecdote of the game.

However, the committee has also urged the members to provide pitches which will provide a balance between bat and ball, especially in Test cricket in order to maintain the competitiveness between the players. The Committee also recommended a points system for the consideration of the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee. Based on the principle of uniformity and every match needs to have an impact, the Committee recommended that points should only be awarded for each match and not a series win.

As part of this, it was proposed that there was a draw-win ratio of 0.33:1, so a draw gives each team a third of the available points.

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It was also agreed to propose a reserve day for the ICC World Test Championship final to enable any time lost through bad weather to be made up.

The ICC Cricket Committee:

• Chairman – Anil Kumble (former India captain)
• Ex-Officio – Shashank Manohar (ICC Chairman) and David Richardson (ICC Chief Executive)
• Past Player representatives – Andrew Strauss (former England captain) and Mahela Jayawardena (former Sri Lanka captain)
• Current Player representatives – Rahul Dravid (former India captain) and Tim May (former Australia off-spinner and ex-CEO of FICA)
• Full Member team coach representative – Mike Hesson (New Zealand team coach)
• Associate Members representative – Kyle Coetzer (Scotland captain)
• Women’s Cricket representative – Belinda Clark (Former Australia captain, ICC Cricket Hall of Famer and two-time World Cup winning captain)
• Full Member representative – David White (NZC chief executive)
• Media representative – Shaun Pollock (former South Africa captain and a respected commentator)
• Umpires’ representative – Richard Kettleborough (member of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires)
• Referees’ representative – Ranjan Madugalle (ICC chief match referee and former Sri Lanka captain)
• MCC representative – John Stephenson (MCC’s Head of Cricket)